Blocking a Slouchy Beret

This is a follow-up post to a previous one that described how to block berets.

A slouchy hat is a challenge to block because you don't want the crease that you would get if you laid the hat flat or stretched it over a plate. This is one solution: stuff it with tissue paper. (Be sure to use plain white or unbleached tissue and not colored tissue that might bleed when wet.)




Another solution, if you have one just the perfect size, is to use an upside-down bowl, or a vase and place the beret over it.

Keeping an Organic Look After Washing Wild Knits

First off, a disclaimer: I am not an expert on this.

Secondly, this post will seem sacrilegious to those knitters who absolutely think that everything must be blocked. (For you non knitters, items being blocked are usually dampened or made entirely wet and then stretched out flat to dry.)

Most knit items need to be blocked. Otherwise they look funky. Sometimes, though, a design begs not to be. Take for example this organic-looking scarf design.

I just listed some knitting kits in my Etsy shop for this scarf that was a collaboration with the Knitting Mermaid. If you were reading my blog last year, you may remember the Knitting Mermaid who was taught to knit by an enamored sailer. This is her first scarf idea.

Imagine you're a mermaid who knits. Where in the heck would you lay something out to block it? And why would you want to? Even if you're not a mermaid but you want to keep this wild seaweed quality in your scarf, what would you do when you wash it and it stretches like crazy into a different style of scarf entirely?

Here's what I do:

• Soak the scarf for 15-30 minutes in a bowl of cool water using a special product for fine woolens. Two great products are Eucalan and Soak because they do not require you to rinse the item after soaking.

• Put the scarf in a colander as a big old wad and let it sit for a half hour. Most of the water will drain to the bottom. Then take it in your hands, still wadded up, and gently squeeze out more water.
  

• Next find an old stocking or cut off one leg of a pair of pantyhose. Lay the scarf on a flat surface and bunch it in a manner that approximates it's original shape. Carefully fold it in half and then stuff it into the leg of the stocking. It should sort of resemble a sausage as in the next photo.
  

• Pull the end of the stocking up to completely cover the scarf. Use a bread tie to close the top so the scarf won't come out. (For this step you can also use a small mesh bag used for laundering fine washables.) Throw the stocking sausage in the dryer for five minutes on a low heat setting. Note: if you are using a highly feltable fiber, skip this step.

• Remove the scarf from the stocking and carefully lay it out on a bath towel. Scrunch it up a little. It might look something like this:

• Now go away and leave the scarf alone for 12 hours or so. Then come back and pretty up the shape a little more. To get back to my original look, I added some soft pleats to the still damp scarf.

Once you wash the scarf it will never look completely the same as when you first knit it, but with a little effort you can keep that organic look and maybe even improve on it.

A Little More WIP

Yesterday's post had some projects in progress from my studio. Okay, yes, there's more.

I'll show you a little more, but not too much. Otherwise you'll be assured that what I call a "little ADD problem" is perhaps something more akin to having a "little insanity problem".




This blocked, currently drying, and almost finished object is either a narrow wrap or a wide scarf that will get some fringe added as a final step. It was made on a mid-gauge knitting machine of which I am not a master. I have been teaching myself about hand manipulating stitches on the machine.



The little horizontal strips of faggot lace were painstakingly made by use of a multi-pronged transfer tool which lifts the stitches off of a group of hooks (needles) so that they can be transferred to adjacent hooks (needles).

You might think by looking at the finished product that this was an easy task. I know many people think that using a machine to knit is somehow cheating because it is so "easy" and fast. Lordy, if they only knew that hand knitting is so much easier!

Here's what I learned while making this project:

1. Choosing to make an item this large as a learning project was just plain dumb. Most of the time I was thinking that this scarf/wrap should just be called by the combination word scrap. There were times when I was dropping stitches like mad and swearing and thinking that even the letter "S" should go away because surely all I was going to get was crap.

2. For some types of machine knitting projects you need to have plenty of weights hanging on the finished part of the fabric. This weight holds the fabric down so that the loops of knitting will not jump off the machine's needles (a row of evil hook-ended things). Well, when knitting lace on the machine, too much weight causes you to drop stitches when transferring them.

Sometimes I didn't know that there were dropped stitches until I had merrily knit 20-30 rows past the point of dropping. I would cheerfully move the weights up the fabric closer to my live stitches and presto-expresso there would be a huge F*ing hole in the middle of the lace! I ripped out and re-knit as many stitches in this project as there are in the finished item.

3. When you are cursing and swearing at a project like that no one will approach the studio to see how things are going. Especially the cat.

*****

For a change of color palette and a change from screaming at the knitting machine, I also was working with this box of goodies last weekend:


The four balls of yarn on the left were handspun by me. The two top ones are multicolored singles and the two lower ones are somewhat more monochrome 2-ply yarns. The two yarns on the left are commercial yarns. The top green one is some mystery yarn and the purple is Lamb's Pride worsted by Brown Sheep in the color, "Wild Violet".

This yarn is destined for a series of purses. Here's the first one started:


I love how the multi-colored single yarn worked up in the Victorian point neige stitch in the top band. This purse may end up with a large silk-ribbon bow and a hand-fashioned cord strap. We'll see.

Blocking Berets

This is just a short post today on the blocking of knitted wool berets.

First, fill a basin with some cool water and add a fine wool washing product like Eucalan or Soak™. (I choose an unscented variety for items that I plan on selling.) There is no need to rinse the item with either of these products. Then follow these steps:

1. Gently swish the beret a little and then let it soak for a while.
   
2. Remove the beret from the liquid and press some of the water out by hand without wringing, twisting, or scrunching the beret.
   
3. Lay the beret on a thick Turkish towel and cover it with part of the towel. Press the beret between the two layers of towel.
   
4. Immediately remove the beret and give it a shake to remove any little wrinkles created in the last step.
   
5. Lay the beret out flat, brim side up, and let it dry by 50-75%
6. Put the beret over a dinner plate to shape it and let it dry thoroughly.

Below you can see the arrangement of plate and bowl that I use in blocking my berets.